Project Week 2025
Under the motto “Fun with Turtles for Everyone, Basics of Programming in Python”, we looked at the fundamentals and quickly created our own programs for the text console and later also brought graphical output to the screen using the turtle (from the TKinter module).
The students learned quickly and were eager to participate. My examples, such as Schimpfolino, Harry Potter Quiz, and Turtle Race, were particularly popular. These examples were quickly adapted or served as inspiration for their own works. The material is linked as follows. Alstergymnasium
Alstergymnasium
Tic Tac Toe
·398 words·2 mins
Ever since the movie “Wargames,” it’s clear: an AI doesn’t like to lose. And even a draw can be just as frustrating.
Still, a game of Tic Tac Toe can be a lot of fun – here is a version in Python, implemented using Turtle.
Spirograph
·264 words·2 mins
The turtle also works as a spirograph. Using for loops and mixed colors from the RGB spectrum, beautiful patterns and color gradients are created.
Calculate Birthday
·154 words·1 min
Everyone wants to learn more about their birthday. With simple calculation and transformation, this is child’s play in Python.
Harry Potter Quiz
·667 words·4 mins
With the “Harry Potter Quiz” you not only test your knowledge about the legendary wizard, you also become proficient in handling Python tuples (arrays). Even when they are multidimensional.
Number Guessing Game
·192 words·1 min
Basically one of the classics, whether it’s a programmable calculator, 8-bit home computer, or as shown here with Python; you have to implement this on every platform at least once.
Perfect for first attempts with conditionals (if-statements).
Schimpfolino
·912 words·5 mins
The “Schimpfolino” doesn’t just provide laughter. It also demonstrates working with lists (variables) and their random concatenation (using f-strings).
St. Nicholas' House
·286 words·2 mins
The turtle (from the Tkinter library) allows you to create simple to complex graphics on screen using Python. It is controlled with understandable commands like forward, left, right, etc. Older programmers already know it from Logo (1967), COMAL (1973), etc. - younger programmers know something similar from Scratch (2007) with the so-called “pen”.
St. Nicholas' House v2
·508 words·3 mins
With the help of loops (for, while), functions (def) and classes (class), you can really make the turtle work hard.
Turtle Race
·312 words·2 mins
The turtle wants to race. Our program uses functions (def) and keyboard input (turtle.onkey()).
Comments in Python
·386 words·2 mins
🧠 Here’s a complete cheat sheet on comments, documentation, and code style in Python – ideal for beginners, students, and advanced users. It shows how to use comments correctly, how to document code, and how to write readable, clean Python code.
Naming Conventions in Python
·385 words·2 mins
🐍 The naming conventions in Python are defined in the official PEP 8 Style Guide. They ensure uniform, readable, and maintainable code. Here’s a comprehensive overview:
Python Built-in Functions (without Import)
·412 words·2 mins
🧠 Python has a variety of built-in functions (so-called built-in functions) and standard methods that you can use directly without importing anything. They are the toolkit for every Python beginner – and perfect for your students!
Python Functions via Import
·294 words·2 mins
📦 Python has many useful functions and methods that you can access by importing modules. These extend Python’s basic functionality and are especially helpful for mathematics, randomness, time, files, system access and more.
Python Invalid Identifiers
·254 words·2 mins
🧠 In Python, there’s a fixed list of keywords that cannot be used as identifiers (i.e., names for variables, functions, classes, etc.). They are reserved because they have a special meaning in the language core.
Python Keywords with Examples
·299 words·2 mins
🐍 Here’s a complete list of all Python keywords with short, understandable examples for each usage – ideal for students and beginners.